When the South African government recently announced a national moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial, water-intense and polluting method of extracting natural gas from underground layers of shale rock also known as fracking , it came as a bit of a surprise to many, including me. Environmental activism can be frustrating. Soul-destroying even. How often do endless hours of organising, research, lobbying, letter-writing and picketing seem to be ignored by the powers that be? How often do environmental policy makers seem to side with what’s good for profit and so-called development, regardless of what ordinary people think or what the detrimental impacts of their decisions will be on nature? Against all odds Against all of these negative expectations it’s amazingly uplifting to actually achieve a victory in our struggles to protect the environment; this is mo...